This Day in Mets History: Robinson Cano hits 3 home runs against the Padres

Okay, so this game was a little crazy, especially in retrospect. The day was July 23, 2019. The San Diego Padres came to Flushing to play the New York Mets. This was in the middle of a season where Padres starter Chris Paddack was battling Mets slugger Pete Alonso for Rookie of the Year rights. Your boy, the Polar Bear, would eventually win.

Starting for the Mets, Jason Vargas. He’d actually give the team six shutout innings of one-hit baseball while fanning 8 Padres. This wasn’t the story of the day. The most unique aspect of this day in Mets history was Robinson Cano hitting three home runs. All of them went a pretty long way, too.

The day in Mets history when Robinson Cano hit three home runs

Cano entered Citi Field with 6 long balls on the year. When this one was over, he had 9 of them.

It began with a 2-0 pitch from Paddack to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning. Cano broke the 0-0 tie and Mets fans were happy to see him contribute something.

In his very next at-bat, again versus Paddack, Cano came to the plate with Alonso on first. The soon-to-be single-season Mets home run hitter and holder of the MLB rookie record managed to strike enough fear into Paddack to draw a walk. Cano, again, homered to right field.

This was ridiculous. Cano’s 2019 season was a miserable one to watch. There was no way he could do it again.

In the bottom of the seventh, with Alonso back on first base after a walk from Logan Allen, Cano hit his third home run of the night. It was his fifth run driven in. The Mets would only have five all evening. Cano’s trio of long balls accounted for their only scoring.

Cano unleashed his inner beast in this one. He drove in every run and scored three of the five. He also had four of the team’s eight hits. Cano isn’t remembered so fondly by Mets fans due to his performance and the PED suspension after the 2020 season.

On this night, it felt good to have him on the team.